Apparatus for capping vacuum bottles



y 1957 E. M. BALDWIN, JR, ETAL 2,792,678

APPARATUS FOR CAPPING VACUUM BOTTLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 3, 1953 INVENTORS. DP. EARL M BALDW/N, JR

'fJOHN E. CHR/ST May 21, 1957 E. M. BALDWIN, JR, ETAL APPARATUS FOR CAPPING VACUUM BOTTLES Filed Dec. 3, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TORS.

DR EARL MBALDW/N, J/-? I; JOHN E CHR/ST ay M United States Patent i APPARATUS FOR CAPPING VACUUM BOTTLES Earl M. Baldwin, Jr., and John E. Christ, Omaha, Nebr. Application December 3, 1953, Serial No. 395,938

4 Claims. (Cl. 53-101) This invention relates to the capping of vacuum bottles and more particularly it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for capping vacuum bottles more rapidly than heretofore.

More particularly it is an object of this invention to provide means in a vacuum cabinet and controllable from the outside of the vacuum cabinet for pressing the the caps of vacuum bottles into closing positions at times when a vacuum exists in the vacuum cabinet.

More particularly it is an object of this invention to provide a plurality of shelves in a vacuum cabinet, each shelf being for supporting a plurality of vacuum bottles upon which caps are disposed in positions in which the bottles are not sealed, the shelves being disposed one above another and being vertically movable whereby hydraulic or other means can be operated for pressing the lowermost shelf toward the shelf above it and that shelf toward the one above it successively until a point is reached in which the caps on the uppermost bottles engage the upper side of the vacuum chamber whereupon a continued upward pressure causes all vacuum bottle caps to be forced into their respective bottles. The vacuum is obtained by drawing a vacuum on the vacuum cabinet after the bottles are placed on the shelves and the door of the vacuum cabinet is closed, a sufiicient vacuum existing at the time the caps are pushed into the bottles.

A further object of this invention is to provide a hydraulic jack in a vacuum chamber for pushing upwardly on the lowermost shelf and further to provide means on the outer side of the vacuum cabinet and in communication with the jack for supplying hydraulic fluid under pressure to the jack.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of guide means for controlling the movement of the shelves.

Yet another object resides in the provision of stop means for arresting the downward-movement of the shelve after capping.

A further object of the invention is to provide a lower shelf in the assembly described which is braced on its under side for strength.

Another object resides in the provision of a hinge assemblyfor the door of the vacuum cabinet, the hinge assembly being one permitting the swinging open of the door while also permitting the door to be pressed tightly shut by pressure applying means of the invention, preferablyhand wheels mounted on threaded members anchored to the cabinet.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, drawings and claims, the scope of the invention not being limited to the drawings themselves as the drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating a way in which the principles of. this invention can be applied.

Other embodiments of the invention utilizing the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural 2,792,678 Patented May 21, 1957 ice changes niay be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and the purview of the appended claims;

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the vacuum cabinet with portions broken away for showing the position of shelves therein.

Figure 2 is an exploded view showing a hinge assembly for supporting the door of the vacuum cabinet of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a frontal elevation of the vacuum cabinet of Figure 1 shown with its door removed for convenience of illustration.

Figure 4 is a view-in-section taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 3 showing a section of the door in position for closing the cabinet and showing the shelves in positions which they are in at the end of capping.

Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the lower shelf in an inverted position to illustrate the reinforcing web thereunder.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of a vacuum bottle cap of the type used with the invention.

Figure 7 is a side elevation of the cap of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a vertical cross-section of a vacuum bottle shown with the cap of Figure 7 disposed therein in a position for the exhaustion of air therefrom.

The vacuum bottle capping apparatus of this invention includes a vacuum cabinet generally indicated at 10 in Figure l and supported on legs 12. The cabinet 10 is preferably braced around its center by reinforcing members 16.

The cabinet 10 has a forward door 20 which is preferably in effect a forward wall. The door 20 comprises a sheet of material 22 having bracing members 24 disposed in criss-cross fashionon its outer side. The door 20 preferably has a window 28 having a frame 30. On the outer edges of the door 20 and its spaced apart points are outwardly extending pairs of ears 40. The pairs of ears 40 are preferably spaced at least one to a side of the door 20 and are adapted to receive therebetween a threaded bolt 42 of a lock means.

Each lock means further includes a hand wheel 46 threadedly fitted to the bolt 42.

The inner end of each bolt 42 has an eye 48 disposed about a bolt 52 which latter is mounted between other spaced apart cars 56 attached to and extending outwardly from the remainder of the cabinet 10.

As it is described it will be seen that the wheels 46 can be turned, when in the position shown in Figure l, for tightly pressing the door 20 into place. Also it will be seen that, when the wheels 46 are in outer positions, the bolts 42 can be swung outwardly of the ears 40 for releasing the door.

The purpose of this construction is best understood by an inspection of the hinges, one of which is illustrated in Figure 2. Each hinge preferably comprises a lower member and an upper member 72. The members 70 and 72 each have portions 74 and 76 respectively which are fixed respectively to the cabinet 10 and to the door 20. Each end section 70 and 72 further has a bolt receiving portion 78 and 80 respectively having an elongated slot therethrough shown at 82 and 84 respectively.

The slots 82 and 84 receive hinge bolts 86 held in place by cotter pins 88.

It will be seen that the hinges permit the door 20 to be moved inwardly of the cabinet 10 a certain distance suflicient for clamping the door against adjacent flanged portions 90 of the cabinet 10.

This is because the slots 82 and 84 are elongated as seen in top plan view in a direction parallel to inward and outward movement of thedoor 20.

Inside the cabinet 10 a plurality of shelves 100, 102

3 and 104 are arranged one above another in horizontal position.

The shelves are held in place by guide and support members 110 best seen in Figures 1 and 4.

The guide and support members 110 are provided with a plurality of rectangular portions 112, 114 and 116 each disposed one aboveanother. 'These portions have vertical side walls and have successively lesser widths so as to provide the guide members 110 with outer side edges 120 which'arevertical and straight and inner side edges 122, 124 and 126 respectively which are vertical and straight and stairstepped With respect to each other for providing shoulders or" steps 130 and 132. 'The lower shelf 1 is provided with notches 150 its outermost extremities and "at; its sides, the notches 150 being disposed sufficiently deep and so'placed as to'receive the lower end portion 112 of each guide member 110 therebetween in such position that the outer edge 1200f each guide member engages and guides the respective end wall 16%) of the respective notch 150.

Likewise the upper shelves 102 and 104 have notches 170 and 172 in their side edges for receiving respectively the" portions 114 and 116 of the guide members 110 with a snug vertically slidable fit for guiding the shelves 102 and 104vertic'ally upwardly and downwardly.

The lowermost shelf 100 has a facing member 190 on its upper side secured thereto by screws.

Horizontally disposed supports 200 are provided and are disposed one on each side of the cabinet and secured thereto for receiving and upholding the lower side of the lower shelf 100.

A similar pair of horizontally disposed side members 220 are fixed to the sides of the cabinet above the upper shelf 104. These function as bumpers to prevent the upper shelf 104 from being pushed off of its guide track portion 116.

A hydraulic jack 300 is mounted in the cabinet be neath the lower shelf 100 and secured to the floor of the cabinet. The jack 300 stands upright and'has a piston 304 engagedly disposed within a circular collar 306 fixed to the lower side of the lower shelf 100. For further strength braces 310 extend outwardlyfrom the collar 306 in four directions, the braces 31 0 being fixed to the collar 306 and to the lower shelf I00.

A hose 316 leads from the jack'300 outwardly through suitable vacuum type fittings 320 to a conduit 322 leading to a hydraulic pump assembly330. disposed alongside the cabinet 10.

i The assembly 330 has a pump handle 332 for pumping hydraulic fiuid'to the-jack 300 and further has a gauge 334 for indicating the hydraulic pressure applied.

A control lever 336 is provided for releasing hydraulic pressure from the jack 300 when desired. Suitable means not shown are provided for drawing vacuum in the cabinet 10. Such means are in communicationwith a con-' duit 400 disposed in communication with the interior of the cabinet through the upper end thereof and also disposed in communication with a vacuum gauge 410 througha hand controlled valve 412.

Referring to Figure 8 a vacuum bottle 500 is there shown having an open neck 502 for receiving a vacuum bottle cap 504 of conventional construction the latter having a plurality of vertical grooves 510 in the outer circumference of the lower portion thereof. The purpose of the special cap 504 is to permit air to be drawn out of the bottle 500 through the grooves 510 along the line indicated by the arrows in Figure 8 at times when the cap 504 is disposed in the position shown in Figure 8.

In operation trays 600 full of vacuum'bottles 504 are disposed on the shelves when the shelves are in the position shown in Figure 3.

The door is then tightly closed and a suitable vacuum is drawn in the cabinet. The operator then operates the hydraulic pump 330 until the shelves have moved upwardly in the position shown in Figure 4. In these positions the caps 504 are pressed into place by abutting the shelves thereabove, or, in the case of the uppermost shelf 104-, by abutting the upper side of the cabinet 10.

Thereafter, the level 336 can be operated to permit the jack 300 to lower the shelves, the door is opened and the capped vacuum bottles removed.

As thus described it will be seen that this invention makes possible the capping of great quantities of vacuum bottles with a single vacuum drawing operation.

It will also be seen that this invention fulfills the objects heroin above set forth.

From the foregoing description it is thought to be obvious that an apparatus for capping vacuum bottles constructed in accordance with our invention is particularly well adapted for use, by reason of the convenience and facility with which it may be assembled and operated, and it wilt also be obvious that our invention is susceptible of some change and modification without departing from the principles and spirit thereof, and for this reason we do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to the precise arrangement and formation of the several parts herein shown in carrying out our invention in practice, ex cept as claimed.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for capping vacuum bottles comprising: a vacuum cabinet having openable and closable doorway means, means in communication with said cabinet for exhausting sufficient air therefrom to draw a vacuum therein, a plurality of shelves in said cabinet disposed one above another, means for supporting said shelves in spaced apart positions for receiving vacuum bottles on said shelves at times when said vacuum bottles have their vacuum caps disposed in the tops thereof in positions not completely closing said bottles, means for guiding upward and downward movements of said shelves, means in said cabinet for causing a lower one of said shelves to move upwardly until the caps in the bottles on said lower shelf bump against the underside of an adjacent upper shelf until said adjacent upper shelf is caused to move upwardly until the caps on the bottles on said adjacent upper shelf bump against a fixed portion of said cabinet and thereafter moving said shelves upwardly until the caps in said bottles are pressed into said bottles, said means for causing said lower shelf to raise being controllable from the outside of said vacuum cabinet at times when a vacuum exists in said cabinet for controlling said upward movement of said lower shelf and for arresting said upward movement at a time when said caps are in their bottles and for thereafter permitting said lower shelf to move. downwardly.

2. The combination described in claim 1 in which said means for causing said lower shelf to raise comprises a hydraulic jack.

3. The combination described in claim 1 in which each of said shelves is provided with slots opening upon and extending into the outer edge thereof and extending vertically therethrough and in which said guide means comprises guide members mounted on said vacuum cabinet and fitting into said slots, said guide members each having vertically extending guide surfaces on the sides thereof for slidable contact with the walls of said slots.

4. The combination described in claim 1 in which each of said shelves is provided with slots opening upon and extending into two oppositely disposed outer edges thereof, said slots extending vertically throughv said. shelves, and in which said guide means comprises guide members mounted on the interior of said vacuum cabinet for fitting into said slots, said guide members each having a bottom portion and a plurality of upper portions, said bottom portion being of a greater horizontal width than said upper portions and each upper portion being of a greater horizontal width than the portion disposed immediately therebeneath, and the sides of said slots in each shelf being greater than a shelf disposed immediately thercabove and smaller than a shelf disposed immediately therebehea'th,

the sizes of the slots corresponding to the sizes of cor- 6 responding portions of said guide members whereby each tical length so as to cause the shelves to be spaced apart shelf is free to slide upwardly and downwardly upon corsufficiently to receive vacuum bottles and caps thereberesponding portions of said guide members but is artween when said shelves are so supported.

rested from excessive downward movement by the greater width of the portion of the guide member disposed im- 5 References cued m the file of thls patent mediately beneath the portion of the guide member upon UNITED STATES PATENTS which said shelf is vertically slidable whereby such por- 294,571 Boomer Mar. 4, 1884 tion disposed immediately beneath will support the shelf 789,699 Lorenz May 9, 1905 and prevent the shelf from moving downwardly, each 831,527 Landsberger Sept. 18, 1906 portion of each guide member being of a sufficient ver- 10 856,688 Farquhar et a1 June 11, 1907 

